With the Redford government set to table its new budget on March 7, residents and municipalities in West Central Alberta can be excused for being anxious about just how bad the news may be.
For the past several months, Premier Alison Redford has been saying the province's fiscal health is anything but robust and that the government will be making tough choices with its new budget.
Just exactly what those tough choices will be remains to be seen, making next week's budget one of the most widely anticipated in recent years.
However, one thing that is already known is that government may be open to taking on more debt to finance high-priority construction and infrastructure projects.
Judging from past experience, some of that new borrowing could come in the form of more public-private partnerships, also known as P3s.
With P3s, a government enters into an agreement with private partners, who finance part or all of the project cost, and are then repaid, with interest, over the period of the agreement.
ìThere was much comment about the fact this isn't about incurring debt, this is about assuming risk,î said Premier Redford. ìThat these are still assets that continue to be publicly owned, but they allow us to build them in a more effective way.î
If the government does opt for more P3 financing as part of its immediate and long-term plans, West Central Alberta must get its fair share of those P3 projects, including for the much-needed upgrade of the Highway 27 and QE II intersection and maybe for flood protection work along the Red Deer River.
Wildrose official Opposition leader Danielle Smith says P3s are nothing more than another form of debt and, as such, are bad policy when it comes to Alberta's long-term fiscal health.
ìWe simply do not believe that once you start down the track of borrowing money that a government will ever stop,î said Smith.
Yet if P3s can be used to address vital projects ñ as opposed to making major cuts to services such as health care, environmental protection and education ñ shouldn't the government at the very least consider using them?
There's no question that the province's finances have fallen into a very sorry state these days ñ the PCs say that is due to lower than expected resource revenue, while opposition parties blame chronic Tory mismanagement and extremely poor long-term planning.
Whatever the reason for the province's current poor financial woes, West Central Albertans will be expecting the Redford government to continue building and maintaining key infrastructure, including ensuring area highways are safe.
